Shadows
by aburameclanhead
Summary: For every hero there is a villain, for every good there is an evil, and for every light there must be a shadow.
1. prologue

Aburameclanhead: My second fic. I have a good feeling about it. Also, even if no one likes it, I'll keep writing.

Deep in Fire Nation, on a secluded island was the mental health institution that (former) Fire Princess Azula resided in. Where she spent many day remembering her humiliating defeat at the hands of her brother, Firelord Zuko, and that Water Tribe peasant girl, Katara.

"I will have my revenge." she whispered into her pillow.

"And I can assist you with that." said a deep echoing voice that seemed to come at her from all directions.

She quickly rose and looked through the small opening in the middle of the locked steel door. There she saw a shadowed figure, which exuded a power that felt...familiar, yet much darker.

"And who are you?" she asked, her head cocked to the side with an wicked grin from ear to ear.

The figure stepped forward. He lit a small flame on the end of his long, bony finger revealing his face, and said with wicked laughter, "Your dark prince charming".

At the South Pole, in the Southern Water Tribe, Aang bolted upright in his bed, feeling a great evil was stirring somewhere in the shadows.

Aburameclanhead: This is just a prologue. It was never supposed to be long. Sooo, later.


	2. Chapter 1

Aburameclanhead: I didn't expect many people to like this so I'm pleasantly surprised.

Aang had been awakened with a start last night. He tried to spend the rest of the night meditating to discover the cause.

Suddenly, Avatar Roku appeared. "Aang there is a matter of great importance that we must discuss."

Aang was pulled from his body and found himself in the ancient past. "Where are we Roku?"

"Five hundred thousand years in the past. The time before the Avatar."

"The time **before** the Avatar, why?"

"Because an ancient power has been reborn, and it is more powerful than anything you have faced yet."

"What power?"

"Watch, and all will be revealed."

Two figures walked into the scene. A man and woman.

Roku pointed to the man and said, "He is Tai Tsao. A human." He pointed to the woman and said, "and she is the Great Mother. The one who gave birth to the spirits."

The two approached each other and embraced lovingly.

Aangs jaw dropped. "Wait, they, you mean?"

"Yes," Roku chuckled, "they were lovers,"

"So why are you showing me this?" Aand asked again.

"Because, for you to know your enemie's origins, you must also know your own."

"What do you mean?" just then he heard crying and when he turned to the vision of the past, he saw the Great Mother holding two babies.

"That is what I mean, the child in her right arm, he was the first."

"The first Avatar," Aang couldn't believe it, the first Avatar was the son of the mother off the spirits and a human. "But wait, then who's the other one."

"As you know Aang, for every yin there is a yang. The Avatar is no exception. Something as powerful as the Avatar requires a balancing force."

"So he's like an evil Avatar?"

"No, not evil, he was meant to balance the Avatar, however, as the Avatar became more and more in tune with the positive forces of good, naturally his brother had to suffer he consequences."

"So for the him to help people his brother had to..." Aang looked at the two babies and couldn't believe that either of them could had any evil in them. "What does this have to do with the present?"

"Like the Avatar, his brother has also been reincarnating for the last five hundred thousand years, slowly amassing bad karma as their counterparts continued to keep the world in balance."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"You must find a way to redeem them, free them from the bad karma, and peace shall return."

"Right, redeem them. Uh how do I do that exactly?"

"That you must discover on your own, farewell Aang."

The images faded with Roku and Aang found himself back in his body, knowing his greatest challenge yet was waiting for him.

Aburameclanhead: I'm pretty confident about this. Please review. Constructive criticism and compliments welcome but don't be afraid to say were I messed up.


	3. Chapter 2

Aburameclanhead: Sorry for the wait, technical problems. Here is the brand new installment of Shadows.

The stranger stuck the flame on the end of his finger into the keyhole and it quickly melted like butter. He opened the door, and stepped back with an exaggerated bow.

Azula walked out of the cell she'd been confined to for what seemed like ages. She made no effort to straighten her tangled and uncut hair as she tied to keep the loose and tattered robe from falling off. They hadn't been able to fit her for the right size because she wouldn't let the close enough. She looked around to find no one except her 'dark prince charming' as he called himself and another standing off to the side. She took a long look at the pair, studying them. The one she'd spoke to seemed to be the boss. He was covered head to toe in a black cloak, though he seemed to be roughly her brother's age, the only visible skin was the part of his face illuminated by the small flame coming from his finger. He had a wicked grin that sent chills up **her** spine, dark sapphire eyes, a few strands of black hair falling over his face, and an air about him that turned her blood to ice. Next she looked at his accomplice. He was roughly the same age as his boss, covered in thick, stone armor, His face was even less lit up than the first but he looked fairly good, at least what didn't look like the side of a cliff. He had the soft kind of face that a child has, a sharp contrast to his serious expression and the dangerously sharp points on his armor. His eyes were green, he had very light brown hair, and a giant hammer as tall as himself which he seemed to use like a walking staff. "So are we going to stand here all day?" she asked in her mad grin, true her time there had helped her regain her sanity but she was tired of playing the 'perfect princess' for her father. All that mattered now was revenge.

"Right this way princess," the stranger said as he turned and strode down the hall.

The other just glared at her. Taking the hint, she began walking. The armored boy began walking behind her. She could feel him glaring needles into her back. They continued until they reached the barren outside of the island where the mental institution was located, now with the moonlight, she got a better look at the boy glaring at her as she peered over her shoulder from the corner of her eye. He was built large and, if the curves of his armor weren't exaggerated, **very **muscular. Eventually she decided to put an end to it. She spun around and bored her eyes into him but he didn't even flinch. "If you have a problem, spill it, if not then give the evil eye a rest!" She demanded.

The boy just stood there with the same displeased expression on his face, after a short while he spoke. "I don't see why my master would let someone like you join us. Your nothing but a liability with an attitude." he sneered. "Ever since your loss to the Water Tribe girl, you haven't been worth the trouble of breaking you out, but I won't question him. I'm sure he has some use for garbage like you."

Azula lost it. **"YOU INSOLENT BASTARD!" **She screamed and lunged at him.

The boy fell into a position faster than his heavy frame and armor should have allowed.

"**ENOUGH!" **A harsh, deafening cry was heard. The fighting duo looked toward the young man in the cloak.

Azula could see a purple glow from beneath his hood. She had seen a similar glow when she 'killed' the avatar, but she was far too astonished by his booming voice to ask any questions.

"Gui, show respect to the girl, she is one of us now." The cloaked figure ordered.

Before Azula could object to the 'one of us comment' his glare scowl turned to her.

"And as for you, I was kind enough to let you out, so I suggest you show some respect and not provoke my subordinates." He thrust his arm into the air and shot an immense burst of flame toward the sky.

The flames lit up the entire area. Azula looked around and saw herself surrounded by hundreds of stone spikes, the closest just inches from her skin. "You, may find yourself missing a few pieces." he said with an angry scowl.

Azula was speechless as she stared at the two. "W-who are you two?" she asked in disbelief. How had she not noticed such a big change in her surroundings and the last time she saw a burst of flame that big since Sozin's comet.

They each held up their left arm and pulled up their sleeve, or in Gui's case moved his stone armor away with earthbending, they each had a tattoo of an eye on the back of their forearms. "We are Shadows. We exist for one purpose, to destroy those who humiliated us and forced us underground. My name is Longwei. Now, are you in or out?"

Before Azula never would have agreed to associate with lowlifes like these. However, the only thing that mattered was getting her revenge against her brother, the Water Tribe girl, and the avatar. "Very well." she said with a smile and reached out her hand.

Longwei smiled back and waved to Gui to remove the spikes. He pulled back his hood to reveal a twisted version of the airbender arrow tattoo on his forehead in purple ink, peering down below his hairline. He reached out and took her hand. "Welcome to the family, Princess." he grinned.

Hundreds of miles away, at the South Pole, Aang had just finished explaining the situation to Katara. "So your going to the Fire Nation why exactly?" Katara asked, not really understanding why her fiance was going to see Zuko about this. Oh yeah they're engaged, I mean they havent set a date yet and it probably won't be soon, but he already made her a betrothal necklace.

"I don't really know, I just sense something's wrong over there and it's probably connected to what Roku told me. If it's true that this um 'other avatar' is more powerful than Ozai was, then the whole world could be in grave danger."

Katara had a worried look on her face. She knew he could handle himself but she still worried and he needed the avatar state to beat Ozai, and he just said himself, this guy was even stronger. "Just don't get in over your head alright?" she asked for at least that much reassurance before she kissed him.

"Hehe, I'll try." and with that he hopped on Appa, "Yip yip," and he was off.

Not far off, a man in thick, blue plate armor, holding a trident, stood on a block of ice, floating aimlessly. He wore a helmet with a faceplate covered in frost, each breath a cloud of frost blew from behind the plate. Once he saw Aang fly overhead he began waving his arms, causing the block to start traveling towards the village at amazing speeds.

Meanwhile in the village, Sokka was polishing Space Sword, Katara was in the middle of he morning practice, Hakoda was training the warriors, and Pakkun was impressing Grangran with his waterbending. Suddenly there was a loud crash and the sound of screaming. Katara, Sokka, and the warriors ran toward the sound to find the man destroying the village.

Sokka Pulled out his sword. "Who are you and why are you attacking us?" Sokka demanded.

The man turned to face him. "Are you Sokka the swordmaster?" he asked blowing frost with every word.

"Who wants to know?"

The man began walking foreward. "My master believes you and your friends are a threat to our plans. But you don't seem all that tough to me." Suddenly, a flurry of icicles flew towards him. He spun his trident around fast enough to deflect them.

Katara arrived with the soldiers, ready for battle. "What happened Sokka? Who is this guy?" she lowered into a defensive stance as the soldiers stood ready.

The man laughed, sending more frost into the air. "You guys keep asking the same question. Not very imaginative are you? I guess thats what happens when you spend too long at the bottom of the world... Hey your names Katara right."

"Maybe, who wants to know?" she asked, not knowing Sokka already said it.

"Wow, it's like your a damn parrot. Listen, either you tell me if your the two I'm looking for or I'll have to kill everyone here to make sure." he was beginning to lose his patience.

That set them off. They charged forward, Sokka attacked with his sword but was blocked by the trident and kicked in his stomach. Katara raised the snow, turned it into water and tried to freeze the enemy but had to drop the small wave to dodge an icicle heading for her head. When she turned to face him again, he was just inches from her face instead of several yards away not two seconds ago. She looked into his blue eyes and felt his frozen breath on her face. Next thing she knew the point of his weapon was racing toward her stomach but her father threw a spear, forcing the man to halt his attack to block it. Then Sokka attacked from behind but the ice at his feet melted and refroze, literally freezing him in his tracks but he quickly cut through the ice and freed himself. The man spun around, exhaling a large frost cloud, freezing them to much to move.

Master Pakkun arrived and thawed them all out with one motion of his arms but they were still too stiff to fight. Next thing he knew The man with the trident had pulled an almost unbelievable amount of water from the ground and sent a virtual tidal wave at him. Pakkun had to protect the village and focused on bending the wave away from the people and buildings. He had his work cut out for him, the water was coming fast and hard, it took all of his concentration to push it over the people. He was so focused on bending the wave that he didn't notice that his opponent wasn't behind it anymore. Once the wave was over however, he felt something wrong and turned to see the man come flying out of the water like a missile. The trident pierced his side and he fell to the ground.

The man in armor let out a cocky laugh, plumes of frost bellowing from his face. "Hehehehaha! I don't see how you guys survived in the war so long. Oh well, the master will be glad to know that the avatar's friends are as weak as I expected." He taunted as he walked away.

Katara, still to stiff from being frozen, crawled over to Pakkun and started to heal his stab wound which was bleeding intensly.

Sokka tried to stand but it was no use so, down on his knees he asked, "Who are you and why are you sparring us?"

"If you must know, my name is Bohai and I was ordered to only test your strength and report back, nothing more but next time we meet, I'm going to turn you to permafrost." Those wer the last words he spoke before leaving the way he came.

Miles away Aang was heading to the Fire Nation, blissfully unaware of what was going on at the South Pole or that he was being followed.

Aburameclanhead: Well? Was it worth the wait?


	4. Chapter 3

Aburameclanhead: Wow, sorry for the long wait. I won't make any excuses, here's the next chapter of Shadows.

Aang was flying to the Fire Nation capital, unaware of the attack on the Southern Water Tribe, or that he was being followed. Suddenly, he heard a loud shriek, just before some sort of shock wave barely missed him and Appa. "Whoa! What was that?" He looked up and saw a figure in the clouds, flying. His eyes widened, "No way."

The figure swooped down and would have took his head off if he hadn't ducked into Appa's saddle. When they flew by he got a look at them. They where wearing familiar looking robes but slightly different with darker colors than he remembered. They were using two fans to fly like a bird. Aang narrowed his eyes, he only knew one kind of person that could fly like that... but his thoughts were cut short when they made a sharp turn and attacked again. This time Aang grabbed his staff and made an airblast. They dodged it and screamed, making the same shrill noise and made another shock wave from her mouth. The blast hit Appa, knocking him for a loop and threw Aang from his back.

Aang activated his glider and decide to make this a dog fight. Since they were in the air he couldn't using th earthbending and he didn't want to kill them so firebending was out, so it became a fight to get them to the ground without badly hurting them. He could always airbend and they were in the clouds so water wasn't an issue. The mystery attacker dove at him from straight above, fans forward to run him through. He gathered the water from the cloud and struck them in the side, sending them spinning towards the ground before catching themselves on the wind.

Aang attacked with an airblast to their stomach before they could rise again, sending the attacker plummeting to to ground, only to slow the fall with a blast from her fans and land gracefully in the field below. Aang landed and the hooded assassin jumped up and ran at him, swinging their fans at him. He dodged the unnaturally fast attacks over and over before he heard Appa roar. The giant bison did a midair flip and brought it's tail down with a strong blast of wind, knocking the assassin to the ground and throwing their hood off. They stood up, rubbing their head. His eyes widened as long, black hair fell down to the assassin's shoulders.

"You're a girl?" Aang's jaw dropped, staring at the girl who was glaring daggers into him. Then he saw something that proved she was who he thought before, a purple arrow on her forehead, with her bangs shaved off. "You're an airbender..." The shape of the arrow was different, a little twisted, rough, and the robes were purple and black instead of yellow and orange, but there was no doubt, she was an airbender, "How? I thought that I was the last airbender."

She spread her fans and flew straight into the air without another word, leaving Aang to wonder who she was and if there were others left out there.

Meanwhile in the Fire Nation capital, Zuko was having problems of his own. A mysterious armored attacker somehow made it into the palace and was mowing down the royal guard with little effort. Zuko was with Mai in the throne room, "Mai, get to the safe-room in the lava chambers,"

She glared at him defiantly, "Are you serious? I'm not leaving you here alone to fight that guy."

His face and voice were stern, "Mai, It's too dangerous. You can't..." she cut him off.

"I'm a big girl Zuko, I can handle myself."

He smiled and kissed her, " I know. Gaurds!" two royal guards ran up and bowed to the Firelord. "Take Mai to the saferoom."

"Yes sir," They restrained her with great difficulty and dragged her to the catacombs.

"Let me go! Zuko!"

"I'm sorry Mai," he muttered. "but I won't let you get hurt." He turned to the main doors and waited for the intruder to arrive. The sounds of battle and screaming guards became closer and closer.

**BAAAAMMM!** The chamber doors were blown off of the hinges. As the smoke cleared, an armored figure could be seen in the doorway. He wore crimson and jet black armor all over his body, covering his face. Smoke puffed from below his faceplate as steam shot out of small exhaust vents in the back. The only parts without plate armor were his muscular arms, wrapped in long, thick chains with baseball sized iron balls on the end, dangling from his wrists.

Zuko moved into a traditional firebending stance, "Who are you, and why are you attacking us?" he demanded.

The man chuckled "My orders where to fight the Firelord, can't think of any better reason than that."

"Orders, from who?"

"Don't worry about that, you've got enough to worry about," he laughed, starting to swing his chains in circles.

Zuko jumped forward with a flip and shot a fire stream from his extended leg, reaching across the throne room and engulfing the intruder. The fire was hot enough to slightly melt some of the ceiling decorations, no one could have survived. Zuko turned to leave before an iron ball flew past his head and smashed through the throne, just barely missing him. The chain pulled tight and out of the flames leaped the intruder, using the chain to pull himself across the room. Zuko fired several fireblasts at him in the air but he block all three with his free arm and landed with a small shock-wave of flames that

Zuko bent away the flames with little effort, The intruder was completely unharmed. "Who or what are you?" the Firelord questioned.

"My name is Qiang, and I am the most powerful firebender ever. Fighting you may be my mission, but to me, it's just another way to prove my might. I will never lose to anyone. Got that? So say your prayers Firelord Zuko, today is the day I dethrone you!" He swung the balls over his head and down like a hammer, Zuko jumped back in time to dodge and looked down at the balls laying on the broken stone floor, they were red hot.

"You use firebending to heat those balls at the ends of you're chains to attack." He explained.

"Good eye. Won't make a difference though. Just cause you know how it works doesn't mean you can keep dodging it forever. HIYAA!" He pulled his weapons back to him and spun around, sending the chains spinning, smashing the throne and two nearby pillars. Zuko ducked the attack and thrust his legs out, the blast had enough force to knock Qiang's feet out from under him. Zuko ran for the nearest pillar to hide and catch his breath. Qiang rose to his feet and yanked on the chains, wrapping them around his arms in one swift move.

Zuko was capable of fighting almost anyone but this guy was different, regular firebending didn't work on him and the movement of those chains was hard to predict. He tried to think up a strategy but was cut short when he saw the chains out of the corners of his eyes. He dodge rolled under them as they wrapped around the pillar he had been leaning against. He looked back to see red hot chains burning through the ancient wood like a roll of paper. "Stay still!" Qiang yelled.

Zuko ran to the middle of the room and got into his stance. 'I really hope this works.' he thought.

Qiang threw his weapons straight forward.

Zuko concentrated on separating the positive and negative energies around him. He dodged the iron balls and grabbed the glowing hot chains. Sparks flew up the chains as Zuko released his lightning attack.

"GRAAARGYAAA!" fighter screamed. He managed to yank on the chains once more pulling Zuko in and wrapping him up in red hot steel. "Hehe, I'm gonna burn you up, nice...and...slow for that pretty boy." He held the young Firelord up to his face, taking taking his feet off of the ground. Out of nowhere a knife pierced the back of his armor. Steam shot out of the hole. "What? NOOO!" He untangled his chains from his opponent and reached back to remove the knife. "Who did that?" he looked over to the rear exit and saw a very angry young woman.

"Mai! Run, he's to strong!"Zuko struggled to move but he was severely burned. If his firebending hadent channeled away most of the heat, he would have been killed instantly.

"Nobody beats up my husband but **ME!" **she announced as she redied another knife.

"You have no idea who you're messing with little girl." Qiang removed his mask, the steam stopped, having run out of pressure. "This armor limits my power, without it I can't control my bending. You just screwed up the only chance you had at surviving." He scowled. His face was covered in soot. His yellow eyes practically glowed as his body seemingly burst into flames beneath the armor. Qiang walked toward Mai, leaving Zuko to lie on the ground, helpless. His footprints caught on fire when his feet left them. He took a deep breath and let out and enormous fireblast from his mouth.

Mai flipped through the air over him. In mid flip she threw everything she had at him.

He leaned and turned around, trying to catch her in his flames. When she landed she hit him in the middle of his chest armor with one of her stilettos.

Qiang growled and pulled the dart from his chest. He slammed his fists into the floor, causing it to crack. The cracks spread rapidly as they began to glow with heat.

Mai knew she couldn't get out of the way in time. She could feel the heat rushing upwards at her. She was tackled out of the way by Zuko, who was still badly injured, less than a second before the flames erupted. There they lay, tired and helpless. Mai threw another knife but it just bounced off of his chestplate. Neither of them could beat him. This guy was on a whole other level of bending.

Just as Qiang readied the final blow, he was sent flying with a gust of air. Aang rushed over to Zuko and Mai to see if they were alright. They stood up and looked around were Qiang had fallen but he was gone, vanished without a trace. Afterwards Aang explained the situation to Zuko, how he was attacked on the way to warn him, and how Azula may be involved.

The FireLord looked worried. "If Azula's involved, it must be big. So what's the plan?"

"Aang looked like he was thinking very hard, "I think we need to get the team back together. If these guys are all that strong, we'll need to stick together."

"That's a great idea, but I can't exactly leave my country."

"Yes, you can. I'll handle everything while you're gone." Mai spoke up.

Zuko was surprised to say the least. " Mai, are you sure?"

"Yeah, It's not like I don't do all the work anyway." she joked.

Zuko kissed his wife, "Thaks, I'll be back as soon as I can." and with that, they left to get the others, and begin a new journey.

Aburameclanhead: So, How was it? Please review if you liked it or think it needs improving.


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